The President of the ROC presented a draft Strategy for the Development of the Russian Olympic Committee to the members of the Executive Board, outlining priority areas, goals and objectives until 2028.
Dear colleagues!
The previous strategic planning document was approved by the Russian Olympic Committee after the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver with a focus primarily on the Sochi Games, which are still fairly considered the best in the history of the modern Olympic movement.
The time has come to move on, and we have developed a draft ROC Development Strategy, outlining priority areas, goals and objectives until 2028.
The period of preparation for the home-based Olympics made it possible to outline the foundations for interaction and strengthen working partnerships with the National Sports Federations, government authorities, sports organizations and participants in industry and related fields.
But in 2015, a doping scandal broke out in track-and-field athletics and weightlifting, which became a harbinger of more global challenges that not only Russian sport, but also the international Olympic movement faced in the future.
From that moment until today, that is, for almost eight years, ever new sanctions and so-called “containment measures” have been applied to Russian sport and the Russian Federation as a whole.
2020 and 2021 will be remembered for another negative phenomenon. The coronavirus pandemic around the world led to enormous economic problems and a significant reduction in resources and motivation in the sports industry.
The next test was the imposition of sanctions, unprecedented in their hostility and scope, taken by the West at the end of February 2022, as a result of which the vast majority of Russian athletes were deprived of the opportunity to participate in international competitions.
At this stage, the concentrated intervention of politics in sports was added to the listed factors.
In such conditions, it was vital to determine the priorities, sequence of steps and key tasks. At the moment, these are:
– promoting the development of Olympic sports;
– assistance in the preparation of the Olympic reserve;
– maintaining a working relationship with the IOC;
– promoting the development and strengthening of international cooperation through the federations of Olympic sports;
– ensuring the admission of Russian athletes to participate in the qualification procedures for the 2024 Olympic Games.
At the same time, the Russian Olympic Committee has sufficient resources to carry out planned work to facilitate the preparation and participation of Russian athletes and the delegation at the 2024 Olympics.
The work is traditionally organized within the framework of an approach based on a program that ensures effective interaction with member organizations, namely the All-Russian Sports Federations, regional Olympic councils, Olympic academies and other entities in the field of physical culture and sport.
It is necessary to note the progress in the activities of the majority of the Olympic Councils, which managed to translate into practice and raise regional cooperation to a qualitatively new level with all entities in the field of mass sports.
An important role in implementing the Programs and ensuring an integral approach to the work of the organization is played by:
– specialized subsidiaries of the ROC, including the Innovation Center and its branches;
– international committee and organizing committees of the Games “Children of Asia”;
– public formations and associations (the ROC Athletes’ Commission, Russian Union of Athletes);
– infrastructure and personnel potential of the best universities, educational and charitable organizations of the country (MGIMO, the Russian Olympians Support Fund, the humanitarian legacy of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the Russian International Olympic University).
In addition to the above, a sustainable approach has been formed in the development of mass sports, as well as educational activities.
The ROC improves the formats for implementing projects and holding events in the field of mass sports. There is a constant search for advanced solutions and forms of organization of work in the regions.
MISSION AND VALUES
Today, not only the sports industry, but the world order itself is undergoing a period of dramatic transformation.
As a leading public sports organization, the ROC, within its competence, systematically builds up and improves work to protect and promote the interests of Russian sport.
De facto, the ROC is creating a single platform for expert assessment and the development of consolidated, verified approaches that will allow to quickly respond to regular and “non-standard” challenges.
New ideas and approaches are being introduced and put into practice. In case of successful testing and confirmation of the ability to ensure the sustainability of ROC members and other subjects of physical culture and sports activities, they can be considered at the state level.
For the near future, the Russian Olympic Committee can define its mission as follows: “By uniting the Russian Olympic sports community, developing and creating new opportunities, we strive for global leadership”.
The main principles of the ROC, following which we continue to actively participate in the promotion of Russian sports and the Olympic movement to the leading positions, are as follows:
– patriotism and a sense of pride in the Motherland, respect for its multinational peoples, unique history, culture, science, traditions and customs;
– constant adherence to the Olympic ideals and values (friendship, respect, pursuit of excellence), the principles of Fair Play in a dynamically changing world;
– competent and consistent opposition to any form of discrimination and prejudice towards (Russian!) athletes;
Against the backdrop of unreasonable restrictions, it seems appropriate to regularly remind our foreign colleagues of the true meaning of the Olympic motto, within the framework of one’s own jurisdiction, putting into it the meaning of uniting the Olympic family.
The Russian Olympic Committee takes a responsible approach to the role of the leading public sports organization in the Russian Federation, helping the domestic sports industry to maintain consistency and ensure the effective interaction with the international sports movement amid rapid and critical changes in the world.
STRATEGIC GOAL AND OBJECTIVES
The work of the past few years has brought us closer to one of the “checkpoints”. Over the past 4-4.5 years, we have gained invaluable experience, which contributed to the natural desire of the participants in the Russian Olympic movement to join efforts to solve common problems.
At the same time, the ROC, as the chief public sports organization, deemed it important to develop mechanisms to ensure the stability of the members of the Union in order to create conditions for self-realization of those who are willing and able to work for the achievement of the highest results of athletes and specialists in difficult circumstances.
The correctness of this approach was confirmed in the context of sanctions against not only Russian sport, but also Russia as a whole.
Despite the consequences of the pandemic, as well as pressure from unfriendly states and their allies, the tasks of ensuring stability were, for the most part, successfully resolved.
Maintaining legal competence and protecting athletes as well as the ROC are distinct issues. In particular, as part of the participation of Russians in the Olympic Games 2018, 2020, 2022, and the process of WADA against RUSADA.
The ROC uses in practice the accumulated experience in the formation and implementation of policy documents of various configurations, solving sectoral, interdepartmental and state tasks of any complexity, including at the international level.
The state of affairs in the international Olympic movement and strategic planning guidelines in the Russian Federation make it possible to determine the goal of the activities of the Russian Olympic Committee for the period up to 2028:
– promotion of sustainable development and effective operation of ROC member organizations that create conditions for the qualitative development and realization of human sports abilities.
To this end, the Russian Olympic Committee has identified the following priority areas (by task groups):
– promoting the development of Olympic sports;
– assistance to the development of mass sports;
– educational activities, promotion of true Olympic values and ideals;
– international activity, humanitarian cooperation.
As part of the Development Strategy of the Russian Olympic Committee for the period up to 2028, it is planned to basically maintain the program-target approach.
Among the priority tasks in the above areas, it is worth noting the improvement of the professional competencies of domestic sports industry specialists who are most involved in organizing the training of the Olympic sports reserve and members of Russian sports teams in Olympic sports, international activities, and anti-doping support.
EXPECTED RESULTS
The implementation of the Strategy provides for the development of specialized Programs that will streamline the target indicators, as well as organizationally and financially guarantee consistent achievement of the set targets.
Taking into account the current issues that form the agenda, program documents will be subject to periodic adjustments to ensure the integrity of the mission, directions, goals and objectives, and compliance with the state of affairs.
Ultimately, this should allow the ROC not only to ensure and maintain the competitiveness of our athletes in the international arena, but also to create positions for shaping the international sports agenda in the interests of constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation in the humanitarian sphere.
